LUCY: The Complete Lucy Kendall Series with Bonus Content (The Lucy Kendall Series Book 5)

by Stacy Green

  “Do you think he found out about it?” Todd asked. “There’s nothing in the emails that mentions it.”

  “Not directly.” I pointed to one of the final lines of communication from Mary and read it out loud, Mary’s grand finale after an effective buildup. “There is so much about your father and me you were never told. I am not the only person who has wronged you. If I tell you what you want to know, will you allow me to remain free?”

  “And he promised her he would.” Todd looked disgusted. “Damn him.”

  “I don’t think he meant it,” I said. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I believed at this point. Would Chris have killed her if he had the chance? Called the police? Or would he have been pulled into her lies? I needed to find out more about Chris’s time at Camp Hopeful. I needed to know if it was all a freakish coincidence. Or something much, much worse.

  “Agent Lennox took Chris’s computer,” Hale said. “His people are working on it, but so far, they aren’t finding anything more than these emails. It’s clear he tried to find his mother by doing his own search, but nothing beyond that.”

  “What does Agent Lennox want me to do?” I looked at Todd. “You told him I knew Mary. Like I’m some kind of expert on her.”

  “You are as much as anyone,” Todd said. “We both know it. You’re a resource. Lennox hasn’t given me specifics, but he agreed he wanted to keep you close.”

  Hale nodded. “I’d like you to help as well. You care for Chris–I know the two of you are close. And you get things done. You can help.”

  I didn’t know how I was supposed to do that, especially with my head spinning out of control. I stood up, my legs wobbling so that I had to grab Todd’s shoulder for support. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  I hadn’t done that in hours, I realized as I found my way to the women’s restroom. I hadn’t drank much either, giving me a pounding headache. I splashed water on my face and tried to think through the mass of shock. None of this made any sense. If Chris had lied to me all this time, what else had he lied about? Or was he still really just a victim? I thought of the pool of blood in the snow and in the cabin’s pitiful sink.

  Chris had been shot. And kidnapped. He’d been a fool, led by desperation and emotion.

  His uncle said Chris felt abandoned. What if he’d found out the truth about his father? How would he react if he knew his aunt and uncle–the people he believed in–had lied to him as well?

  He’d do something really stupid, like contact his mother.

  I dropped my forehead against the mirror. Somehow, I needed to find out if Chris and I had been at camp at the same time. Until then, I wouldn’t be able to focus.

  11

  When I returned to the conference room, Lennox had arrived, bringing with him the vague scent of cold and snow. He’d shed his coat to reveal a well-fitted, basic black suit, matched with a purple shirt and lilac tie that somehow made him look even more masculine. Just as he’d done at the cabin, he captivated everyone’s attention simply by walking into the room. He nodded at me, a knowing expression in his dark eyes. “Have a seat. I’m going to brief everyone, and then I’ll let you get some rest.”

  “I’m not sure where we’ll do that.” Todd’s embarrassment stood out in stark contrast to Lennox sweltering aura of confidence. “We didn’t look for rooms.”

  “We took care of it,” Hale said. “I booked us all four rooms at the motel down the street.”

  “Thank you.” I appreciated the chance to lock myself away from everyone, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I had answers.

  Still standing, Lennox cleared his throat. “The state police have put as much manpower as possible working roadblocks and patrolling the major highways. The deputies are going door to door in Jarrettsville and the outlying homes. We’re in contact with the state and police of the surrounding states. We have no idea what kind of vehicle Mary is in, but I’ve sent out photos of her and Chris to every law enforcement agency in a two-hundred-mile radius.”

  “They could be anywhere at this point,” Todd said. “Did you find anything in the cabin that gives us a starting point?”

  Still standing, Lennox shook his head. “Chris is injured. The medical examiner took a look at the original blood found. She thinks he’s lost enough to slow him down, but at the time he left the cabin, not enough to be fatal.” He glanced at me, and I forced myself not to flinch under his observation. He continued, “We didn’t find any more blood using the Luminal, which means there wasn’t a big puddle cleaned up. We’re checking hospitals and clinics. We’re still searching the cabin for anything she might have left behind that gives us a lead as to where she’d go next.”

  “She wouldn’t do that,” I said. “She’s too smart.”

  “But she left in a hurry,” Lennox said. “There were dishes in the sink, fresh food in the fridge. She’d very recently burned incense–it was still burning when Deputy Frost found the cabin. So we’re hopeful she’s not too far ahead.”

  “Why did she leave in a hurry?” I asked. I really wanted to point out that Deputy Frost had given Mary plenty of time to get her act together, and if the stubborn officer had involved the state police right away, the road blocks might have had a chance to work. But it didn’t matter at this point.

  “Because of you,” both Todd and Lennox said. Lennox nodded to Todd. “Go ahead.”

  “Chris probably told her that you knew where he’d gone, thinking he’d rattle her,” Todd said. “He knows you’ve been analyzing the Lancaster cases, trying to get Justin’s record expunged. He uses whatever he can to shake her, but she’s not easily rattled. She knows she’s got to pack up and leave quickly.”

  “She didn’t pack everything,” Lennox said. “A few clothes were left in the bottom dresser. We’ll check them for DNA. Since Justin Beckett’s is in the system, we can get a matriarchal match. That’ll take a while, though.”

  “In the meantime, we wait.” Waiting made me feel like tiny creatures were crawling on my skin, making it itch and ripple.

  Lennox’s sharp eyes trained on me. “I know that’s not your forte. And I’d like to hear your thoughts on Mary’s state of mind. You’ve seen the emails?”

  “Yes.” How the hell was I supposed to know her state of mind? The itching turned to agitation, as if the rash had spread to my insides. How much had Todd told Lennox? I didn’t think he’d betray me and share his theories with someone like Lennox, but what did I know? Lennox’s demeanor, his watching me, as though waiting for me to do something crazy or dangerous, made me want to get up and do exactly that.

  “What do you think?” He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and then his ankles, smiling as if we were talking about the weather instead of a killer. But more than that, he looked through me, straight into my well of secrets. I swore I could see all the bad things I’d done reflected in his eyes.

  Maybe I’d gone mad after all.

  “She’s getting off on his desperation to know the truth.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “She’s a control freak who’s feasted on creating pain and havoc for most of her life. What did your brother see in her?” I threw the spotlight back to the assistant district attorney, who’d been watching the exchange in silence.

  Hale shrugged. “You know, she wasn’t an unattractive woman when they met. Her features were…fine. Extreme, maybe, but she stood out. I could understand his noticing her, but beyond that…” Hale shook his head. “Talking to her was a different story. It felt like shouting into a void that only sent back your echoes.”

  “What do you mean?” Lennox asked. “She didn’t talk? Wasn’t interested in being friendly?”

  “Not so much that,” Hale said. “She just seemed spongish. A mirror. That’s better. She reflected back whatever she thought you wanted to see, but never had any depth. It was all a careful act. Does that make sense?”

  Lennox’s head bobbed up and down; Todd murmured his agreement. I tried not to get sick. I’d thought the same thing of
myself when I’d gone undercover in various cases, especially with Preacher. And I’d been proud of it.

  “Anyway,” Hale continued. “John met her at a time when he was vulnerable–March of 1978. He was nineteen and still bitter about finding out he was adopted. He was practically a transient, working for the Maryland State Highway Association. They met somewhere on the road and got married six months later.”

  “How old was she?” I asked.

  “Twenty four, I think.” Hale’s face twisted as if he’d bit into something sour. “He was enamored with her because she was older and had all this experience. And I’ve always believed she played a part in dropping his surname and taking hers. It’s control.”

  More than control. Manipulation at its finest. I shuddered, crossing my arms over my chest as though it would make a difference. Understanding Mary made me feel like I’d just put on a pair of dirty underwear.

  “Did she drive a truck too?” Lennox asked.

  Hale raised his shoulders. “He said she worked for her father. That’s all I knew.”

  “She obviously lied to them about her surname being Weston,” Lennox said. “We checked back through the early eighties. There’s a handful of Mary Westons in the tri-state area, and they’re all decent people living their lives.”

  “John and I didn’t speak much by then.” Hale’s eyes clouded with regret. “I was too busy with my own life, and he was so bitter. I never found out anything about her family. I don’t even know if she shared it with him.”

  “I assume since ADA Hale notified you of Chris’s disappearance that you’ve been working Mary’s case since we found out the truth about her last fall?” I asked Lennox. “You’ve found nothing beyond the Weston alias? She didn’t just spring up out of nowhere.”

  “You assume correctly,” Lennox said. “I’d hoped she had a Social Security number, but it wasn’t required for kids to be listed on a tax return until the late eighties. Before that, most people were around 14 when they applied for the number. There’s no record of Mary Weston doing so. Martha Beckett did, however, shortly after she married your father.” Lennox glanced at Todd, whose jaw looked tight enough to break. “Because of her age, no one questioned why she didn’t have one. And until then, she’d never filed for taxes.”

  “Another dead end,” I said.

  “Checking every Mary Weston who matches her rough age takes a while, even with the FBI’s resources, and none of them have panned out,” Lennox continued. “As far as we know, only two people know anything about her: Mary and John Weston. And he absolutely refuses to talk.”

  That much I knew. Chris’s uncle had told him a few months ago his father had been visited by the FBI several times since we’d uncovered the truth about Mary, and he hadn’t said a word. His loyalty was admirable, but bothersome. Most people didn’t keep their mouths shut unless they were afraid or they were getting something out of it. Since I didn’t see how spending his life in a supermax prison was much of a gift, I’d bet on the former.

  “What about now?” I said. “His son is in danger. Couldn’t you appeal to him?”

  Hale scoffed. “I called the prison on the way down here. He refused to take my call. I had the warden pass on the message, but so far we haven’t heard a damn thing. He’s loyal to her. So damned brainwashed. He chose Mary over his son a long time ago.”

  Everyone else at the table looked shocked and confused at the idea, but it made sense to me, and my skin started to quiver all over again. My own mother had essentially done the same thing to my sister. Some people were so wrapped up in their own needs they didn’t care. And I didn’t believe everyone had some kind of natural parental instinct.

  I looked at the picture of Mary that Lennox had laid on the table. It was taken years ago, likely when the Lancaster killings were first discovered. Despite her height and sturdy girth, she managed to look equal parts shocked and vulnerable. And she looked very different than she had when I met her. By then the softness in her face was gone, replaced by rigidity that only heightened her coldness.

  Cold to the core, a psychopath at her very best. Able to manipulate whomever she wanted at whim.

  Just like you. All those dirty men you killed. The Harrison Brothers. Preacher. You got them exactly where you wanted them, and then you struck.

  “What about your father?” I directed my question to Todd. “What has he told you about Mary when they were married? What do you remember?”

  Todd scowled. “I haven’t talked to him in years. He’s a drunk in and out of jail. At the time, I never knew what he saw in her, because she had zero feminine qualities.” He looked down at the table. “My dad said she’d been in some kind of car accident, which affected the nerves in her face and her arms. He said that’s why she was so…robotic looking. But maybe it was like you said,” he looked at Charles Hale. “Because she was pretending.”

  “I’d forgotten about the car accident,” I said. “Maybe that’s why she didn’t kill when they were married. She wasn’t able to.”

  “She went through physical therapy,” Todd said. “I remember that, and by the time I was older, she seemed pretty much recovered. There were certain things she stumbled over, like cooking, but I always figured that’s because she hated to do it.”

  “Sounds familiar,” ADA Hale said. “Although, I wouldn’t go so far as to say she didn’t have any femininity when she was younger. It was just more restrained. Everything about her was wound quite tightly.”

  Todd nodded. “After my brother went into the system, my father and Mary divorced. She basically abandoned Justin, and within a couple of years, my father did as well. I was the only person the kid had. And to answer your question, my father never told me what he saw in her. For all I know she had him doing despicable things too. Maybe that’s what started his drinking. He barely touched the stuff before her.”

  “Your father’s name is Thomas Beckett, right? He married Mary when you were about six?” Agent Lennox scribbled in his notebook.

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t around all that much, thank God. I lived with my mother, so I didn’t really spend much time with them until Justin was a toddler, and that’s because I wanted to look out for him. Even then I could tell she was off. I just thought she hated him.” He clenched his jaw, his voice shaky.

  So many people screwed up in Mary’s wake. Todd harbored the same sort of guilt over his brother as I did over Lily. Compassion thickened my throat, and I suddenly wanted to reach out and take his hand, to somehow tell him that I understood and it wasn’t his fault. But I couldn’t make myself move.

  “Do you remember her last name–the one she used when she met your father?” Lennox asked.

  “No clue. He only referred to her as Mary, and then next thing I knew, they were married. Like I said, I didn’t see them a lot, and my mother hated her. Him too, for that matter.” Todd glared at the table, caught in his memories.

  “Makes sense,” Lennox said. “Your father still living in Philly?”

  “As far as I know.”

  “I’ll have the office do some digging, see if we can find him and get some information. Maybe she told him something we can use.”

  “Good luck,” Todd said. “We tried that as soon as we made the connection between Mary Weston and Martha Beckett. I stayed away, but my superiors got nothing out of him. Mary’s got a way of rendering her men mute. Somehow, she wins their loyalty despite the terrible things she does.” His gaze listed to me.

  I looked away. “She’s going to mess with Chris’s head. She’ll probably tell him everything he wants to know, maybe even let him think they’re bonding. Before I read those emails, I would have said she wouldn’t fool him. But now, I don’t know. ADA Hale, do you know anything more about Chris’s emotional state? What do you think he’ll do?”

  Hale’s shoulders drooped in the chair, his chin sagging. His body no longer looked robust and healthy but utterly worn out. “The hardest part for Chris, I think, is that not all of his memories of his
mother are bad. She was strict with him, but kids see things differently. He remembers her making cookies and letting him lick the spoon. Or reading a story. These things stick out to him every bit as much as the things he saw in the barn, and he has trouble meshing the two into one person.”

  “And she’ll sense that,” I said. All eyes in the room turned to me–my turn in the spotlight of this very lousy play. “We know she’s extremely smart, and she’s got to be good at reading people. If she weren’t, she would have been caught a long time ago. She’ll figure this out about Chris–if she hasn’t already–and then she’ll kill him.” I hated saying the words because I couldn’t take them back and because I knew I was right. My vacillating anger for Chris ebbed once more and was again replaced by fear. How badly would she make him suffer?

  “Not if we find him first.” Lennox’s hard voice made it clear he took my words as a personal insult and challenge. Good. Maybe he’d do a better job finding her than he had in the past few months.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of hope for that.”

  He shrugged, still relaxed, but his eyes smoldered. “Tell me what you would do.”

  “I’m not a cop. Or an FBI Agent. Why do you keep asking me?”

  “I know about the things you’ve done,” Lennox said. “Your tenacity and capabilities. I’d like your opinion.”

  The underlying layer of accusation in his quiet, almost melodic voice sent a fresh wave of apprehension through me. Exactly to what things was he referring?

  “Go back to the past,” I said. “Find out who she is. I think that’s our best shot at figuring out where she’s taken him.”

  “Why?” Todd said.

  “Because that’s what he wants,” I said. “He wants to know where he came from and why she did those things. And she enjoys manipulating and mind games. What better way to make him feel like he’s winning than to take him back to her beginnings?”